Snippet
Written with a loving hand by kitt some time around 19:43 on 5 June 2015

Remove extended attributes of mac OSX files

# Use the xattr command. You can inspect the extended attributes:
$ xattr s.7z
com.apple.metadata:kMDItemWhereFroms
com.apple.quarantine
# and use the -d option to delete one extended attribute:
$ xattr -d com.apple.quarantine s.7z
$ xattr s.7z
com.apple.metadata:kMDItemWhereFroms
# you can also use the -c option to remove all extended attributes:
$ xattr -c s.7z
$ xattr s.7z
# xattr -h will show you the command line options, and xattr has a man page.

After who knows how many tries, fits and stops, I finally have what I consider a working unix laptop with my shiny MBP. I like it a lot, as I slowly force it to submit to my will (read: works the way I started working when I was on an SGI IRIX box ten years ago).

Emacs and the terminal window were the two hardest parts to get right. I become very cranky if a system I'm using doesn't have emacs on it (try as I might to switch to vi/vim/gvim at Andy's suggestion and with his help). I become even more cranky if I have to use a mouse on a regular basis to navigate amongst windows: splat-tab is fine, I can even use splat-tilde to navigate through windows of the same application. But force me to use a mouse exclusively to change applications and watch the laptop fly through the air and most likely out the window.

So, when the new install of OmniOutliner Pro overwrote one of my frequently used emacs keystrokes (splat-greater than, or splat-shift-period, which sends the cursor to the bottom of the editing buffer/window or the end of the document in Word speak), I became very, very cranky.

Turns out splat (or flower, or apple, or command, it's all the same key on an Apple keyboard) > is the OmniOutliner Pro Service call to "Add to clippings," essentially copying the system clipboard to an outliner. If OmniOutliner Pro, eh, screw that name, if OOP is installed, this service is installed, and it can't be modified, can't be disabled via the OOP application.

As uncomfortable as I am about installing small random applications on my computer, the mac part not-withstanding, this and DoubleCommand, which Doyle found for me, are the two tiny apps I'm glad I have on my system. I'm very happy other people are scratching those itches and a few dollars via paypal means they're scratching my itch, too.